My baby boy is already 4 months old (on July 22)! I haven’t kept track of how many weeks he is — #thirdchild — but looking at a calendar, I see that he is 17 weeks old now.Corbin’s nicknames so far are Corb Man, Little Man, Mister Man, Little Guy Guy, and Little Bud.

Size

Corbin had his 4-month checkup on August 2 and now weighs 18 lbs (88%), is 25.25 inches long (42%), and has a head circumference of 17.32 inches (96%).

Corbin stays awake consistently for 90 minutes between naps. His naps range from 45 minutes (most often) to 2 hours (occasionally). He almost always goes down for the night between 6:30 and 7:30, and wakes up around 3-4 AM to nurse. He’s “up for the day” between 6:30 (most often) and 7:30 (occasionally).

BUT… the night before he turned 4 months, he started the 4-month sleep regression and was up every 2-3 hours. The next night was pretty much the same, and last night was only mildly better — he went to bed around 8 PM and woke up at 2, 4, and 7. So who knows what his sleep is going to look like going forward.

Corbin is still sleeping in his Rock n Play for naps and bedtime. Over this next month, I’m going to set Corbin’s crib up in his room, and have him start taking a few naps in the crib. We’re also going to start transitioning Corbin out of the swaddle… I just started swaddling him with one arm out. After we do that for a while, we’ll go to both arms out and the swaddle wrapped around his torso. And then we’ll be done!Eating

Probably the biggest change this past month has been Corbin’s nursing habits. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s gotten so used to taking a bottle, or if I’m just not producing as much milk, but he is really squirmy while nursing, and only nurses for 5 minutes or less per side. He has also started to be really distracted while nursing, often pulling off to look around.

When I pump at work, I usually get between 5-6 oz each session (pumping twice over 7 hours). I have no freezer milk left, so I have to start pumping every night before I go to bed, and I’m going to buy some formula to have on reserve for the days I work. Before Corbin was born, I said that I was totally fine with supplementing with formula, and that I wasn’t going to bend over backwards to continue nursing him. But now I’m like, “No, I’m not ready for this to be over yet!” So I’m going to try to keep it going as long as I can, but realize I might need to start supplementing on the days I work.Development

Corbin can now sit up in his Bumbo seat with very minimal head bobbing. I actually gave him his first haircut last week while he was sitting in it. (Giving an almost-4-month-old a haircut is tricky! But his hair was starting to look scraggly, and now he looks so dapper.) He was actually totally fine with getting his hair cut for a good 10-15 minutes; then he was over it.He can bring his hands to his mouth when he wants, and loves to suck on them. He can also reach for and grab dangling toys and bring them to his mouth. (A new skill in just the past couple of days! They change so fast!!) He also still loves his pacifier, and needs it to go to sleep. We give him his pacifier when he’s going down for a nap, in the carseat, or in the Baby Bjorn (when he’s tired).

Corbin loves facing out in the Baby Bjorn, so I put him in there whenever he’s awake and we’re outside (and sometimes when I need to make dinner). But he still prefers to lie on his back and kick his little legs while he’s awake, versus being held. Right around his 4-month birthday, he started rolling on to his side and can now spin himself around while on his back. One night while we were eating dinner, he spun himself around 180 degrees several times. Each time we looked over at him, his head was at the other end of his playmat! I have yet to see how he spins himself around though…Tummy time is still not a favorite activity, but a couple times, he has tolerated it for probably 3-4 minutes, and actually lifted his head up off the floor, so progress! I plan to do more tummy time with him now that he doesn’t absolutely hate it.I’ve taken him on a few short stroller rides (with him reclined in our jogging stroller), but the girls are the limiting factor there (they’d rather do other things instead of going on walks, though that’s changing now that they can both ride their bikes).

Corbin has started talking more, but in a very different way than either of the girls talked at this age. Instead of a loud and high-pitched cooing, he does more grunting, groaning, and blowing bubbles. #allboy It’s going to be really fun to see how he differs from the girls.

The girls still give Corbin a ton of attention, and for the most part, he loves it and tolerates it very well. Annabelle has only made him cry a few times. As a parent, it’s nice to have other people to entertain the baby if I need to get something done. The other day, I was just finishing painting my toenails when Corbin woke up, and I sent Emma in to his room to entertain him while I finished. And she did…by putting makeup on his face to make him look beautiful. 😉A few milestones for Corbin this month were his first trip to the cabin on Lake Namakan (which also means first boat ride, since you can’t drive to the cabin), first time meeting all 4 of his cousins (on my side), and first time swimming in a pool (which he actually enjoyed!).And that’s Corbin at 4 months!

Wow, that went fast. Some people feel sad when the newborn stage is over, but I’m excited that he’s starting to interact with us, play with toys, and coo more. And since he wasn’t an easy newborn, I’m kinda breathing a sigh of relief that the first three months are over!Size

He won’t go back to the doctor until 4 months so no weight or height stats for ya, but Corbin has been in 6-month clothing for at least 3 weeks now. Even 6-month pants mostly fit him. He doesn’t have a bunch of rolls though–he’s just a solid little boy. He’s also in size 3 diapers now too. Size 2 still fits him technically but I’d rather not chance the blowouts (sometimes they even happen in size 3 because he saves up for days and then lets it rip).Eating/Sleeping

Corbin has stretched his awake time out to 75-90 minutes (including feeding time). That gives us a good 30-45 minutes to actually play and interact with him before he needs to nap, which is nice. Generally speaking, he goes to bed between 7 and 9 PM, and wakes up between 4 and 6 AM to nurse. If he wakes up more like 4 AM, he goes right back to sleep for another couple of hours. If he wakes up at 6 AM, he’s usually “up for the day” (aka up for an hour before he needs his first nap).

His naps are usually about an hour long, with the exception of his late afternoon nap, which tends to be 2-3 hours long (from about 3-6). He still goes to bed at the normal time and sleeps through the night, so I guess it works for him!Corbin usually drinks 5-6 ounces from a bottle for a feeding, so I would assume he gets roughly the same amount nursing. He’s been a champ with the bottle (praise Jesus!), and has done really well with the nanny we hired. He is still taking his acid reflux meds. I didn’t give them to him for a day before his 2-month checkup and he seemed to be fussier, so we’re sticking with them for now.He still loves being swaddled, though he’s started to be able to get his hands out once he wakes up. He has been able to find and suck on his hands more too, so maybe we’re nearing the one-arm swaddle? I can’t imagine him giving up the swaddle altogether yet, because he loves it so much. When he’s ready for a nap, he wails like the world is ending. We swaddle him, sometimes give him a pacifier, and 85% of the time, he totally relaxes and is content to be carried around and bounced. Sometimes he’s still a little fussy (having a hard time settling down) but after only about 5 minutes, he starts getting sleepy. It still takes 15-20 minutes to get him to sleep though.

He fell asleep once in my arms unswaddled. The thing that makes him the fussiest is either not getting a good nap or getting woken up from a nap. Then he is a beast! But as long as he gets good naps (whether in the Bjorn or Rock n Play), he’s a pretty happy guy.Development

Corbin seems to be a pretty mellow baby so far. He does smile a fair amount, though not nearly as much as Emma and Annabelle did (though we were told by several people that Emma smiled more than the average baby). Emma and Annabelle were also considerably more vocal than Corbin has been, but maybe I’m remembering them at more like 4 months?

Since Corbin has distinct awake times now beyond just feeding, we can tell that he’s a pretty happy baby overall. His favorite thing is to lay on his back and kick his legs, whether on his playmat or in his bouncy seat. He has also sat in the Bumbo a few times, and seems to like that (we make sure to support his head if it bobs around too much but he has pretty good neck strength). He does not like tummy time though AT ALL. Seriously, 5-10 seconds and he’s done. Oh well.I put Corbin forward-facing in the Baby Bjorn yesterday for the first time and he seemed to really like it! That might start making it more possible for me to be outside with the girls while he’s awake. I also take him on very short stroller rides (to the mailbox and back). That’s usually his limit!

Corbin was 10 weeks this past Thursday but just had his 2-month well-child checkup on Friday. (#thirdchild)

Size

Corbin is now 14 lbs 11 oz (87%) and 23.5 inches long (58%), with a head circumference of 16.13 inches (89%). He is 4 pounds bigger than Emma was at this age, and 2 pounds bigger than Annabelle.He is still mostly wearing 3-month clothes, though he does fit into his 6-month summer rompers, and 6-month onesies aren’t crazy big on him.

Corbin is still wearing size 2 diapers but once we use up all the ones we currently have, I think I’ll move him up to size 3.Eating/Sleeping

Corbin is still eating about every 2.5 hours during the day, but has lengthened his long nighttime stretch to 5-8 hours, which is awesome (now if only our girls would stop waking up for various reasons…). Most of the time, Corbin is down for his long stretch somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 PM, and wakes up to nurse between 3:30 and 5 AM. But he’s still unpredictable so every night is a little different.

Since my last update at 8 weeks, Corbin has mostly decided that naps longer than 45 minutes are overrated (though he napped well for my mother-in-law the days I was working… figures). He often wants to be held for naps, and still LOVES being swaddled. We started swaddling him even in his car seat (with his legs out for the harness)–now he does a LOT better in his car seat.Even though his naps are hit or miss these days, Corbin has thankfully become easier to get to sleep. He’s content to just be swaddled and held, and we can have him outside or rock him in the chair and he’ll eventually drift off to sleep (most of the time).

Corbin unfortunately isn’t always a huge fan of the Baby Bjorn (or even the Moby wrap). He will sometimes tolerate the Bjorn, as long as he has a pacifier or his thumb to suck on. Sometimes he just screams bloody murder until you take him out of it.He really likes sucking on a pacifier about 80% of the time (the other 20% he just pushes it around with his tongue).

Development

Corbin’s favorite thing to do while he’s awake is lay on his playmat, kicking his legs, batting at the toys, and watching the blinking star.

We’ve tried tummy time a few times but he lasts about a minute before screaming his head off, and we’ve had about all the crying we can handle right now, so I’m not going to push it.

He hasn’t started cooing or smiling much more than he had been doing at 8 weeks.

Last week was my first week back at work and Corbin did great for my MIL! We found a nanny for him so hopefully he’ll do well for her too. And that’s Corbin at 10 weeks!

I’ve posted postpartum updates with both of my other pregnancies so why stop now? I’m technically 7 weeks postpartum today but kept this as my 6-week update because it sounds better. Anyway…

Physical Recovery

This pregnancy was my easiest physical recovery by far. The afterpains of uterine shrinking were a b!tch (Tylenol with codeine was a lifesaver) but that was really the only issue. My bleeding was much lighter with this recovery than the first two (though it lasted slightly longer) and I made sure to be diligent about taking a stool softener for about the first month, since I learned the importance of them the hard way after having Annabelle. I didn’t even have the abdominal pain that made it hard to be up walking around after giving birth this time.

Nursing has gone well overall, despite Corbin’s swallowing a lot of air. The fact that he has a weaker latch because of his lip tie means that I haven’t had any nipple discomfort or pain. TBD on whether we do anything about his lip tie. It’s unique in the sense that breastfeeding is going well and he’s gaining weight.

Weight / Body Image

I’m about 5 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.

It’s all concentrated in my stomach, but this time I started doing ab exercises at 2 weeks postpartum so I can actually fit into several pairs of pre-pregnancy pants. I did also buy a couple new pairs of jeans though so that I could put my maternity clothes away (and even though the weather is warmer, it’s still jeans weather).

I also bought three nursing shirts from Latched Mama. They are awesome to use, though I have mixed feelings about the fit and fabric. I plan to do a separate post on the nursing tops and bras I bought in the next month or two.

I’ve gone on a handful of runs so far and done some strength training (squats, lunges, pushups) a few times. I’ve been fairly consistent with my ab exercises, only missing a few days (it helps that they only take 5-10 minutes). I’d like to get out biking soon too! It feels good to be active again, and with Corbin starting to sleep longer stretches at night, morning workouts are starting to be a possibility.

Emotional

The first week postpartum was rough. Life just changes so. much. when you’re the mother of a breastfed newborn. The father gets to more or less go back to life as normal (sleep for a full 8 hours, go to work each day) but the nursing mother is now tied to a child 24/7 (even those who use bottles still have to pump). So I was having a hard time with once again staying home full-time and not being able to “accomplish” anything besides caring for children all day. And between nursing and trying to sneak naps in, I was feeling isolated from my husband and girls too. I still feel that way sometimes–I love family time more than anything so when they’re having fun without me because I’m sleeping in or going to bed early, I feel left out and a little lonely. But I know it’s just for this season, and even a little more sleep will help me be a nicer person.

The recurring theme of my life over the past 8 years or so has been “The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD” (Isaiah 29:19). What that verse means to me is that joy is not found by demanding my life be a certain way, but by embracing the life and circumstances God has allowed. I will never find joy if I am “one foot in, one foot out” in my own life, if even part of my heart is lusting after How Things Should Be or What I Want Instead.

And what I’ve found to be true is that ironically, when I give up dictating what my life should be like, instead of feeling trapped and limited, I find great freedom and abundance. Living within God’s limits on my life brings freedom. Denying or begrudging those limits leads to bitterness and resentment.

These truths have proven to be very helpful and I call them to mind often, especially when I feel like I’m completely in over my head, have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, and fall so far short of the kind of mom I want to be (which is every day). Because parenting well is hard. Frankly, without God, it’s impossible. The last thing I need is a bunch of unrealistic, guilt-producing expectations about What I Should Be Able to Handle and What I Should Be Doing Besides Parenting.

In this season of my life, parenting is all-consuming. That’s ok. God knows that. He sees me in the midst of it. And He empowers me to keep on sacrificing my life and my desires for the good of my family. I have full confidence that I will look back on these years, from old age or heaven, with absolutely no regrets, but instead joy and gratitude to God for strengthening me to persevere. It will all be worth it because Jesus is worth it.

Little man is already a month old! He was 4 weeks last Thursday and 1 month on Sunday 4/22. Some nights are super long but the time has actually gone by fast.

Size

Shortly after he was 2 weeks old, Corbin outgrew his newborn clothes, and is now wearing all 3-month size. He has also been wearing size 1 diapers since we came home from the hospital, and I’m contemplating moving him to size 2 already…

At his 1-month well-child checkup yesterday, he weighed 11 lbs 13 oz (95%!!!), was still around 21 inches long (14%, but they have measured him shrinking since he was born so who knows!?!), and had a head circumference of 15.55 inches (97%).Eating

Corbin has gained 3 pounds on top of his birth weight since he was born, so it’s obvious little man loves to eat! He still eats every 3 hours pretty much around the clock, though he has given me a handful of longer stretches at night.

During one of those longer stretches, I woke up before him, so I got up and pumped, partly to not inundate him with milk after 4 hours, but also so that we could start feeding him a bottle. And he has done great! He’s taken a bottle from my mother-in-law a handful of times now, which is so encouraging, since I’ll be heading back to work in the next month or so.I met with a lactation consultant yesterday because even though Corbin seems to nurse really well and is obviously growing, he is fussy and unhappy often. Almost the only way he’s happy while awake is being tightly swaddled, cradled horizontally in our arms, and jiggled/bounced — and he can tell if you sit down (and doesn’t like it), which makes for some very sore arms and back for whoever is holding him. The lactation consultant observed a partial lip tie and referred us to a dentist in a nearby town who will do a consultation for free, so I think we’ll look into that.

However, starting last night, I started only nursing Corbin on one side for each feeding. That seems to help him be more comfortable and it doesn’t majorly decrease the amount of time he goes between feedings, so I think I’ll stick with that for a while and see if it continues to help, or is just a fluke.

Sleeping

Corbin may be a fussy baby but his one saving grace is that he will let us put him down in the Rock ‘n’ Play once we get him to sleep. We have a vibrating pad that fits in a pocket at the bottom of the Rock ‘n’ Play, and turn that on whenever we’re putting him down — I think it helps the transition. But that vibrating pad burns through 4 AA batteries every week! Still, it’ll probably end up being cheaper than buying a whole new Rock ‘n’ Play with vibration built in.

We’ve tried Corbin in the Baby Bjorn several times — both of our girls loved it, but he does not seem to be a fan. My sister-in-law loaned me a Moby wrap, though, and he seems to like that so there’s that.Similar to Annabelle, Corbin will fall asleep in his carseat on car rides, but wakes up immediately when we try to move the carseat inside. Yesterday, I took a nap in the car with him while the girls played outside in our driveway. It was glorious.

Corbin is starting to be awake for longer periods of time, but still mostly just eats, sleeps and poops. There are times that he has been awake for an hour or more, but only because he’ll be almost asleep and then gets woken up by what appears to be gas pains, and it starts all over again. A few times, I’ve had to wake Travis up in the middle of the night and ask him to take over because Corbin has taken over an hour to get back to sleep, between pooping, burping, and squirming in pain. Poor little guy.We have noticed, however, that one thing that gets Corbin to sleep faster than anything else (once you have him swaddled, cradled, and bouncing) is for him to hear people talking, either in person or on the TV/radio, or even the girls screaming. I had been avoiding watching shows at night out of fear that the noise would stimulate him and keep him awake longer, but it actually has the opposite effect on him. He also seems to like being carried around (swaddled, cradled) while I tidy up and out toys/clothes/dishes away, which is nice because then I can at least stay on top of the housework (for the most part) while holding him.

Development

There’s not a ton to report on development yet, because Corbin still pretty much sleeps all day. He still hates his carseat, but will tolerate it when the car is moving. He doesn’t mind baths, but hates getting his face washed. His hair is as awesome as ever, but he has a little bit of baby dandruff from a flaking scalp (though I expect that to go away in the next couple of weeks).

He hasn’t smiled while awake yet, but he does smile a fair amount in his sleep, which is just the cutest thing ever.I will say that the hardest thing about having a newborn this time around is not the newborn himself, but our other kids. Two kids was a juggling act, and three is even more so. It is very helpful that the girls are as old as they are. Emma can get snacks and drinks for her and Annabelle while I’m nursing (as long as she’s in the mood to be a helper and not a helpee), and Annabelle is about 75% potty trained, so we don’t have to change her diapers/pullups very often.But because the girls are older and capable of more things, they are also harder to wrangle. Emma will take off on a walk through the woods, or climb up a snowbank in her tennis shoes and regular pants, and I can’t race after her because I am holding a baby (and Emma is pretty stubborn/defiant so she doesn’t listen to my pleas or threats). Annabelle is better about sticking in the driveway or yard around the house, but is also more needy in terms of getting her shoes and jacket on, and getting hurt doing stuff she sees Emma doing but can’t quite do herself.

Then there are the dinner and bedtime struggles, and the middle-of-the-night wakings with our other kids that make having a newborn even more challenging. Travis and I have agreed that in general, I will take care of Corbin at night while he will get up with the girls–in the middle of the night if something happens, but mostly in the mornings when they rise at the ungodly hour of 6:30. I’ve usually just gone back to bed around 6 AM after nursing Corbin, so Travis gets up with the girls (and often Corbin too) and lets me sleep until around 8 AM. I relish those extra two hours of sleep, and am severely devastated if/when they don’t happen. But after a cup of coffee and the reminder that God’s mercies are new every morning, I soldier on.

This is just a season. It will get easier. This is just a season. It will get easier.

“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, for his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Corbin is already 2 weeks old!Corbin is nursing well. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday 3/23 at 8 lbs 9 oz and when we took him to the doctor the following Monday, he was down to 8 lbs 6 oz. But my milk came in late Sunday so by his follow-up appointment on Thursday, he was up to 8 lbs 10 oz. He had been tested for jaundice on Monday but his level wasn’t high enough to be treated, and since he was gaining weight and having plenty of wet/poopy diapers, his doctor felt he was headed in the right direction.

He eats every 2-3 hours around the clock. During the day, he sleeps like a champ and I sometimes have to wake him up to nurse after it’s been 3 hours. He almost always nurses himself back to sleep but the past couple of days, he’s sometimes alert after nursing so then we let the girls hold him or give him a bath, and then swaddle and rock/bounce him to sleep. He also likes to suck on his thumb. Sometimes he finds himself (by accident), but sometimes we help him. He also seems to like vibration like Annabelle did, but not so much swinging in the swing.We had a couple of rough nights that first week, with him feeding every couple hours and/or being awake and hard to get back to sleep (so I was only getting an hour of sleep here and there) but the last several nights, he’s given me one 3-hour stretch of sleep and gone right back to sleep after nursing.

Corbin is hard to burp so he has a fair amount of random spit up, and seems to struggle with gas pains (he sometimes cries at random intervals). He is also a poop machine!! During our roughest nights, I’d nurse him on one side, change his diaper to wake him up, then while I nursed him on the other side, he’d poop. So I’d change him again and he’d poop again while nursing. And there have been several times when he has peed or pooped all over his outfit in the middle of a diaper change. But I think I’m *finally* getting the hang of changing a boy’s diaper!The girls are enthralled with Corbin and give him loads of affection by patting his head and stroking his face. They love holding him and try to help other ways, but are limited by how young he is and how much he sleeps. (He has to be in his room to get good sleep, because the girls won’t leave him alone if he’s out in the main room with us.)

When Corbin is awake, he loves to look around and seems very content. He only cries when he’s hungry, cold, getting his diaper changed, or being held by the girls when he’s tired. But those things can probably be said about any newborn, and like I said, in just the past couple of days, he’s started being more alert and not just sleeping all the time. So we are just beginning to discover what he’s like!Corbin wasn’t a huge fan of the sponge baths he received before his umbilical cord stump fell off when he was about a week old, but he doesn’t seem to mind a real bath (until he has to get out).

Likes

* Held lying down in arms (vs. upright)

* Nursing

* Being bounced/walked around

* Sucking on his hands or thumb

Dislikes

* Being in his car seat (unless the car is moving)

* Tummy time

* Diaper changes

* Tight swaddles

We’re getting Corbin’s newborn pictures and family pictures taken in a little over a week! I’ll be back with his one-month update in a few weeks.

Corbin Travis (aka Jellybean) made his debut on Thursday, March 22, four days before his due date. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long with a head circumference of 14.25 inches.

I went into labor the evening of Wednesday, the 21st. I had actually seen the doctor that morning, who said I was still 3 cm but now 70% thinned — my cervix was doing what it was supposed to, and it could be any day, we just didn’t know which one.

After Travis got off work, he went on a run and showered, then we went to Costco for dinner in the food court (I had a major craving for pizza) and some groceries. My hips and inner thighs were killing me, and I was walking as slow as a grandma.

Bedtime with the girls went as usual and I got to bed around 9:30. I woke up again around 11 from a few strong Braxton Hicks with a lot of downward pressure (which I had been having almost every night), and a small pop similar to when my water had broken with the girls, only this time nothing came out.

About 5 minutes later, though, I had my first real contraction. I laid in bed for a few more contractions, just to make sure they were consistent and that first one hadn’t been a fluke.

It hadn’t been. The contractions were all strong and about 6-7 minutes apart. I got up around 11:45 and moved to the couch to watch some episodes of Modern Family while continuing to time my contractions. I also reviewed my list of stuff to bring to the hospital, put my nursing pillow and the Rock n Play by the door, and retrieved the infant car seat from its storage spot in the garage (and discovered the straps had gotten moldy, so I washed those too).

Around 3 am, the contractions were still coming every 6 minutes and strong enough to require some intentional breathing so I ate a bowl of Cheerios with strawberries and then woke Travis up. “I think it’s time to have a baby,” I said. “Oh goodness,” was his response.

He asked if my water had broken. I told him no, I was just having contractions painful enough to know they were real. So he got up and took a shower while I finished packing my bag, and then I jumped in the shower while he finished packing. After getting dressed, I called my friend Brenda, who had graciously volunteered to be our middle-of-the-night childcare.

She arrived at our house around 3:30 and we got to the hospital around 3:45. Since it was the middle of the night, we had to go through the ER entrance. They immediately asked if we were headed upstairs to the family birth place, and a nurse escorted us up. I totally accepted her offer of a wheelchair so that I could be sitting during any contractions that I had on the way.

I was wheeled right into a room, and the nurse had me change into a hospital gown and then hooked me up to the baby and contraction monitors for 30 minutes. By then, my contractions were more like 2 minutes apart and I was 5 cm dilated. They seemed to take their sweet old time getting everything set up but by 5 am, I had my IV in and was getting my first round of antibiotics (for the Group B Strep), as well as the liter of fluid required to get an epidural.

The contractions were quite painful by that point, and I was panicking just a little at the thought of having to wait a whole hour to get an epidural (that’s how long the liter of fluid takes) so I asked about the possibility of using nitrous oxide in the meantime. My nurse, Kathy, asked the anesthesiologist, who approved it, so they got that going and it definitely helped. At the very least, it gave me something to focus on during that hour besides just the pain of the contractions.

A little after 6 am, my nurse, Kathy, checked me again. I was 6 cm dilated and decided to go ahead with the epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived around 6:15. I was worried about the pain of the epidural but needn’t have been. The numbing medicine was a sharp pinch, but I barely felt the actual epidural being placed. I told Travis later that the most painful part of the whole thing had actually been getting that darn IV put in my arm.

After the anesthesiologist was done, Kathy had me lay down in the bed, tilted to the side, which I have to admit wasn’t the most comfortable position ever because of how heavy my belly was. But overall, the epidural worked perfectly — I could feel the pressure of the contractions but they weren’t painful, and I could still move my legs and feet. They checked me again shortly after the epidural was placed, and I was 8 cm.

A little before 7 am, one of my contractions must’ve pushed Corbin’s foot up into my ribs and it was so painful that I demanded to change positions. So Kathy tilted me the other way, and that helped. At 7 am, there was a shift change and my new nurse, Shawnna, gave me a pillow to prop up my belly, and I was actually fairly comfy that way (though I would’ve preferred to lay on my side instead).

Because I was positive for Group B Strep and my first round of antibiotics had been started at 5 am, they wanted me to wait until at least 9 am to have a baby, because the antibiotics need 4 hours to take effect. So we had a couple of hours to just rest. Travis fell back asleep but even though I was relaxed and was really trying to sleep, I just couldn’t turn my mind off. It was nice to rest anyway.

Around 8:45 am, the on-call doctor, Dr. Senica, came in, introduced himself, and talked about the game plan. He’d come back down around 9:15, break my water, and then we’d have a baby. Shawnna checked me again around 9 am, and I was still at 8 cm because my water still hadn’t broken, so Dr. Senica broke my water around 9:15. By 9:45, I was almost fully dilated, and I was starting to feel pressure by 10 am. Because the pushing stage of labor with the girls only lasted a few contractions, they weren’t planning to have me start pushing until the doctor came back down. Just to be sure, Shawnna had me push a little while Dr. Senica was on his way, and confirmed that yep, we want to wait until he’s here to start pushing.

He got into the room a little after 10, got all set up, told me that we were going to push until the baby’s head came out, clean baby’s nose and mouth with a bulb syringe, then push the body out. When the next contraction came, they told me to go for it, so I took a deep breath, and with three pushes, Corbin’s head was out. A few minutes later, they were ready for me to push again, and his body came out with a huge gush of amniotic fluid. Then Corbin peed all over the doctor while he was clamping off the umbilical cord. 😉

After wiping Corbin off a little bit, they put him on my chest for skin-to-skin. He was covered in vernix and very purple. He cried a little bit right away, but once he was snuggling with me, he was totally content. Too content. It was taking him a little too long to pink up — Shawnna had to keep rubbing his feet to make him cry and exercise his lungs. After 10-15 minutes, they took him over to the warming station and gave him some oxygen to help get his oxygen levels up (they started out at 60, and were up to around 80 by that time, but they wanted them between 85 and 95). Eventually, his oxygen levels got up to desired number, and they brought him back.

Within an hour of birth, Corbin started making motions with his mouth like he wanted to nurse, so I put him to the breast and he did a great job sucking. He nursed for about 45 minutes straight, then wanted nothing to do with it until the next morning because he was so sleepy. When he wasn’t being poked and prodded with needles, oxygen sensors, and stethoscopes, Corbin pretty much slept the whole time we were in the hospital. We were grateful that he was willing to sleep in the bassinet and didn’t need to be held the whole time.

Having a child born in the morning was a new experience for us–both the girls were born at night. About 2 hours after Corbin was born, he got his first bath and the Hep B vaccine and erythromycin eye ointment. The epidural had worn off by then, so I was able to walk to and use the bathroom on my own strength.

I was starving and parched by then (since you can’t eat or drink during an epidural) so we ordered breakfast–french toast for me, eggs and bacon for Travis. And I drank a whole bottle of Gatorade, plus two glasses of apple juice, and a bunch of water.

After eating, we decided to try to get some rest, so we closed the shades and laid down, but I still couldn’t sleep! Ugh, it was so frustrating. I just could not stop thinking about anything and everything.

One of my co-workers came to visit around 3 pm with balloons and gifts for the girls, and a card for us. My boss came to visit around 5 pm. They both stayed about 20 minutes. Travis and I ordered dinner, then around 6:30 pm, Travis’ parents came with the girls. They were very excited to see Corbin, and wanted to hold him for about 5 minutes, then they were interested in checking out the room. Having kids in a hospital room is chaotic. They left around 7:30, with Emma crying because she wanted to stay with us at the hospital, or have us come home with her.

I ate an amazingly delicious sub from Erbert’s and Gerbert’s, then my Bible study ladies came to visit around 8:45. They stayed for about half an hour, then left so that we could get some sleep. I tried to nurse Corbin once more before going to sleep, but he wasn’t interested.

For the first few hours after “going to bed,” I was able to fall asleep but was woken up by intense cramping (afterpains). I paged my night nurse, Jena, and asked for pain meds. She gave me some Tylenol, and then an hour later, some ibuprofen, but even after both of those, the cramping was still really painful, so I asked if I could have anything stronger. The doctor on call approved Tylenol with codeine for me, so sometime between midnight and 2 am, they gave me some of that with a heating pad to place on my belly, and that helped a lot.

After that, the night is a blur but I recorded on our breastfeeding and diaper log that Corbin woke up at 2:45 and nursed for 10 minutes on each side. He nursed again at 6:45 and 9:30. Sometime during the night, Jena took Corbin for his hearing test and baby pictures, and Travis and I were able to get some sleep then too.

A little after 7 am, our day nurse, Katie, came in to let us know that the pediatrician would be coming by soon. I was also starving so I woke Travis up and asked him to order french toast, bacon, eggs, and coffee for breakfast. Since we were trying to leave the hospital before noon and knew that there was a slew of things that needed to get done before then, we decided to just get up. It was sunny that day, so that helped wake us up (the day Corbin was born was cloudy).

After the pediatrician looked Corbin over and gave the green light, I took a shower. Dr. Rice, my OB, popped in a couple times while I was in the shower, but I didn’t actually end up connecting with her (not sure if this was an oversight?). She did write me prescriptions for a breast pump and Tylenol with codeine, though. Then we worked on getting all our stuff packed up and loaded onto a cart.

Right before discharge, Katie did Corbin’s newborn PKU screening and the CCHD test. When the girls arrived with Travis’ parents, we quickly had Katie take some sibling pictures and while they printed those out, Travis and his dad took a load of stuff down to the car.

Finally, it was time to go home! We had always been required to stay for 48 hours in the hospital (I think because my water was broken so long with both girls?) so it was nice to get to go home earlier, and stop being monitored constantly by nurses.

We ate lunch when we got home, then took nice long naps. And the rest I’ll talk about in Corbin’s 1-week update, coming soon! He’ll be a week old tomorrow already! We are in love with our little sweetheart already.

Updates on My Kiddos

My baby boy is already 4 months old (on July 22)! I haven’t kept track of how many weeks he is — #thirdchild — but looking at a calendar, I see that he is 17 weeks old now.Corbin’s nicknames so far are Corb Man, Little Man, Mister Man, Little Guy Guy, and Little Bud. Size […]

Corbin is already 3 months old (13 weeks)! Wow, that went fast. Some people feel sad when the newborn stage is over, but I’m excited that he’s starting to interact with us, play with toys, and coo more. And since he wasn’t an easy newborn, I’m kinda breathing a sigh of relief that the first […]

Corbin was 10 weeks this past Thursday but just had his 2-month well-child checkup on Friday. (#thirdchild) Size Corbin is now 14 lbs 11 oz (87%) and 23.5 inches long (58%), with a head circumference of 16.13 inches (89%). He is 4 pounds bigger than Emma was at this age, and 2 pounds bigger than […]

Corbin was 8 weeks old yesterday! He will be 2 months next Tuesday, May 22, but his 2-month well-child checkup isn’t until June 1, so I decided to do an 8-week update, and will do another update at the beginning of June (since babies change so fast in so little time!). Size Corbin is starting […]

I’ve posted postpartum updates with both of my other pregnancies so why stop now? I’m technically 7 weeks postpartum today but kept this as my 6-week update because it sounds better. Anyway… Physical Recovery This pregnancy was my easiest physical recovery by far. The afterpains of uterine shrinking were a b!tch (Tylenol with codeine was […]